


HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN (?)

by mirkwood131



Series: EXO Central [56]
Category: BLACKPINK (Band), EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angst and Romance, Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Mystery, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-09 23:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19896394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirkwood131/pseuds/mirkwood131
Summary: Kyungsoo has just met his new roommates: Baekhyun, a muscular and athletic demon, and Jongdae, a lazy and always staying in his room angel.Turns out that angels who have never faced temptation are terrible at resisting it. On the other hand, demons who know nothing but temptation are masters of discipline.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm pretty pumped about this one actually; i feel like the idea is rather interesting and has a lot of potential to be even a little bit creepy and mysterious
> 
> hope you'll enjoy:)

He didn’t know what made him click on that particular Craigslist ad. Exactly that one, as there were hundreds, no thousands, of similar ads, all written in the similar fashion of a seemingly not obsessed and aggravatingly panicked to find a roommate individual, who was hiding it all under bright fonts and cheery words.

He knew it because he had been there too. A couple of years ago and funnily enough (in fact, at the time, he thought it wasn’t funny at all), that was the reason why he was browsing again on that doomed site in search of a doomed roommate.

And just like that, he clicked on that “roommate wanted” ad, written in the most obnoxious font and color he had ever seen. To his own surprise, he was feeling pretty pumped about everything, not considering the spelling errors or the colors or the fact that the apartment was very dark and gloomy. It could be just the day it had been taken the photo: a cloudy one. Heck, the lightning was not good, the camera bad, the photographer terrible.

But the apartment was fine.

Yes, he was a bit surprised by his own sudden happiness and excitement to immediately rent the place. But only for some short seconds before he picked the phone, dialed the number and the room was his. That easy. He only had to gather all his stuff, throw it in the back of a cab and be at the door of his new home.

He sighed.

Yeah, he could look a little more around the site, see other offers. Maybe some looked better and had more decent prices, but that particular one had something special. He couldn’t put his finger on it, not exactly. It was clear as day that the apartment was meant for him.

Not like his soon to be the former one. From day one, if it had managed, the apartment would have to spit him out into the street, him and his belongings without second thoughts. But it couldn’t, so, for the next 3 years, it had had to tolerate him.

Well, he thought about his broken leg from the second week living there, the smashed entrance door, the cat incident and oh, well, the newest incident in the series of incidents that lead to him searching through Craigslist for a new place. It wasn’t even his fault and in fact, the damn apartment was his. He had found it.

Granted, he hated it with all his soul.

Therefore, his gut was telling him the new one was great. Amazing. Fabulous. He could just buy some nice minimalist furniture from a thrift store, paint it all a dark grey, place all his books and boxes and organizational things on the shelves and in the drawers.

He took a deep breath and knocked at the door. Even the door was nice. Or not. It had a big, long scratch all across it. What could it be from? It was thin, but jagged and deep and he was almost surprised the door was still standing in one piece.

But the hallway was nice, with natural lighting and some plants here and there. It could work.

The door opened and Kyungsoo blinked. Once, twice.

“Hey, I’m Baekhyun, your new roommate. And you must be…Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo, right? Got your name right, haven’t I?”

“Hi, yes, yes, I’m Kyungsoo. Uhm…nice to meet you,” he said, picking up his luggage.

For someone living in a space for 3 years, one would have expected more things to have gathered. But in that bag, there were only some clothes, books and nick-nacks. Everything else was to be bought for the new place. Fresh beginnings.

“Come on in, don’t wait in the hallway. So, the premium is 500$ and then the monthly rent is also 500$. Capish?”

“What?”

“Did you understand?” Baekhyun said, closing the door behind him.

Well, maybe the photograph was truthful. The place was indeed dark, kind of foggy for some strange reason, but that must have been the dust flying around. Even though the walls were white and windows were wide open, letting the sun come inside, somehow they were reflecting all the darkness they could find.

Kyungsoo shrugged, thinking it must all be in his head. He had to be positive.

“Do I pay the premium now?” he asked, placing his luggage in a corner.

“Yes, and sign this so we don’t have any problems in the future.”

“Alright…” Kyungsoo shrugged, taking the piece of paper from the other’s hands.

“Our other roommate is sleeping right now, so don’t mind him. He suffers from chronic tiredness, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Where do I sign?”

“There…” Baekhyun pointed with a black pen. “And take this to sign with.”

Kyungsoo signed it and stared a bit at his handwriting. It was high time to change it; even a preschooler could do a better signature after all. The longer he was looking at it the more he was getting the impression that the black ink was turning into red and for some reason his wrist was beginning to sting a little.

When he glanced down at it, he saw a thin string of blood trickling down across his arm.

“I must have scratched myself,” Kyungsoo laughed.

“Yes, of course,” Baekhyun said. “And the money, please. The last person lived here for a month, didn’t give me any money and then left without notice. Now I’m being more careful.”

“Yeah, sure, it’s understandable,” Kyungsoo said and placed the crumpled bills in the other’s hand. “Count to see if it’s alright.”

“Yes, it is,” Baekhyun grinned. “Welcome to your new home. Make yourself comfortable. Your room is the one at the end of the hallway, next to the bathroom and my room. The kitchen and living room are here, you can use them whenever you want. No noise after 12 at night and before 10 in the morning. We don’t have rules about cleaning or shit like that. You might meet Jongdae tonight or something depends on how tired he is.”

“Okay…thanks…can I make changes to my room?”

“Whatever. Make yourself comfortable. Oh, and rent payment is at the end of each month.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo smiled.

He grabbed the luggage and started walking down the hallway. For some reason, it was even darker than in the living room. Granted, there were no windows to shed some light and the carpet was a deep burgundy color. He pressed down on the knob and the door opened with a screech.

It was a pleasant little room, exactly like in the ad. A bunch of shelves, perfect for books, a good-sized desk, and a closet; even the bed was a little bigger than a one-person bed, with nice white sheets, like the white curtains at the window.

Strange. The room, with all that white everywhere, seemed to reflect the same grey-ish, dusty air as the other parts of the apartment. Nothing a good cleaning session and some ventilation couldn’t do. It had always worked wonders.

He closed the door and placed the luggage at the edge of the bed. The air smelled funky too. Like dust, probably; maybe some mold too, in some corner of the room. He could buy some spray from the store and maybe some air freshener too; oh, the Aesop one was nice, granted, expensive, but it would last him a lifetime. Some nice lavender or lilies-of-the-valley scent to brighten everything.

That Jongin could rest with his moldy and ugly little apartment while he would live in a new paradise, in an apartment that finally wanted him as a tenant.

Kyungsoo sat down on the bed and looked around, sighing. Then, he heard a screech, then a thump and another one, louder than the last. It seemed to be coming from inside the apartment; more exactly, from the room next to his. Baekhyun’s, most probably.

But he placed the headphones over his ears, turned on the music and started arranging the place. He didn’t hear the rest of the thumps and the groans coming from the other room, nor the banging in the wall and the screech of his own furniture.

When night came, he had new sheets on the bed, all his clothes were folded in the closet and the books he had brought were standing on the shelves; he had managed to swipe the floors, ventilate the room and even wipe the walls with some antibacterial wipes, as well as any other wooden surface. For some reason, the air still had that gloomy, dusty and grey quality to it. It must have been all in his mind.

Kyungsoo’s stomach grumbled. Damn it, he forgot to do some shopping after he had arrived. What was he supposed to eat? But then, Baekhyun surely had some food in the fridge. He opened the door, looked through the hallway and laughed at himself. Why was he acting like such a scared cat? That was his new home.

He went to the fridge, opened it, and saw it empty. All empty. Nothing in it.

Baekhyun must have been then the take-out and eat out the type of guy. Maybe he had the money for it. Many people hating cooking so it wouldn’t be so strange to be the case. But Kyungsoo was more and more hungry and the only solution was to go shopping.

He didn’t really want to, but it seemed imperious at that moment.

The door needed some fixing too, it was rather screechy and that damn scratch all over it. His stomach grumbled again.

Another door opened, the one next to theirs and a girl, somewhere his age, stepped into the hallway.

“You live there?” she asked, pointed at their apartment.

“Yes…”

“Oh,” she whispered and rushed down the stairs, clutching the railing.

Kyungsoo shrugged.

He wondered how Jongin was doing, in the apartment, needing to find a new roommate, because he knew for sure that he couldn’t just afford that rent. Of course, he sighed, he knew it was none of his fault. Jongin had just overreacted and every normal human being would have shrugged the whole incident off. But he knew it had never been in Jongin’s character to do any of that. It was better that way, anyways.

Kyungsoo entered the convenience store and the first thought that came to his mind was the place was too bright for his taste. The same girl he saw in the hallway was there, at the chips and biscuits aisle. She saw him and ducked her head so that he could only see the top of it, the brown hair strands poking upwards.

Kyungsoo breathed out and walked to the place she was standing. He wasn’t sure what got to him. In no way shape or form was he the type of person to just go to a stranger and ask questions. Exactly the opposite even.

He stopped next to her and coughed. She was focusing on the label of a bag of chips with paprika powder.

“Hey…you are hiding from me. Why?” he asked.

The girl looked at him, sighed, and placed the bag back on the shelf.

“You live in that apartment, 135?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo shrugged. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“The last tenant ran away in the middle of the night and nobody heard anything about him ever since,” the girl said, picking up a packet of chocolate biscuits. “If I could, I would move out today, but the rents are too expensive.”

“How do you know he ran during the night?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Well, the next day he was gone.”

“I’m Kyungsoo, by the way,” he smiled, extending his hand.

The girl stared at it, shifting the packet of biscuits from one hand to the other. She squeezed it and shook it, before letting it go with a small shake of her entire body. “Jennie.”

“I think Baekhyun is nice. Haven’t met Jongdae yet.”

“Neither have we. Everyone thinks Jongdae is just a product of his imagination. Or Baekhyun is schizophrenic,” Jennie said, taking a bag of chips too.

“He seems normal.”

“A medicated schizophrenic. Some act very normal, trust me. There’s also the incident with the blood and the goat incident too. Oh, and the orgies,” Jennie said, stepping towards another aisle.

“Orgies?” Kyungsoo mumbled, following her, forgetting all of the sudden about his grumbling stomach.

“Yes, maybe 10. All doing it in a room.”

“It can’t be real,” Kyungsoo shook his head.

“Heard everything. Trust me.”

“Uhm…what’s with the blood…and the goat?”

“You’ll find out. Plus, it’s dark,” Jennie said. “I should go back home. Be careful,” she said and started walking towards the cash register.

Kyungsoo remained in the middle of the aisle trying to calm down his heartbeats.

“This is stupid, is stupid. Baekhyun is totally normal just a normal dude living in a normal apartment.”

That’s what he had been repeating to himself on the way back to his new apartment, trying not to think about any goat or blood or Jongin. Especially Jongin and his grumbling stomach. He opened the door and waited in the living room, trying to catch any strange noise. But everything was silent, no screeching, no thumping and very much no orgy. Just a normal apartment.

It made him laugh. Normal people his age renting a small apartment were not having orgies. It seemed like such a strange idea, almost alien, or at least one only for brothels and extremely rich and eccentric people.

Jennie could have been after all the odd one out. More plausible than anything else that he had heard from her.

His wrist stung again and when he looked down, there was no trace of blood or earlier scratch. He shrugged.

At 7 sharp, he was woken up by the sound of a rooster. A real rooster singing somewhere outside of his window in the middle of New York. No goat, but a rooster. He had dreamed of a goat for some reason, and blood smeared over the front door in the shape if a Star of David upside down. Kyungsoo shivered, standing up from the bed. He opened the window and breathed in the not so clean and fresh air of the road right in front of their building.

It was a very busy day, not only for the traffic but for himself too.

He stepped outside of his room and was welcomed by a whirl of cold air, hitting him right over his bare arms, legs, and face. That space was even darker than the other day.

“Morning,” Baekhyun said to him.

Kyungsoo jumped, turning around to look at the other who was standing in the doorframe of his room. How did he make no noise?!

“Did you sleep well?”

“Had some weird dreams…” Kyungsoo said, shifting from one leg to another.

“Everyone has some of those. Uhm, forgot to tell you. I only eat out and Jongdae orders a shit ton of taking out so the fridge is always empty.”

“Okay…then I’ll be the only one using it.”

“Sure,” Baekhyun smiled. “So…do you have a job or something?”

“I work as an editor at a magazine.”

“Nice. Then you must read a lot about deaths and celebrities cheating on each other.”

“I…edit the culinary column,” Kyungsoo said.

“Even better. You like food, huh?”

“I guess so. I like cooking too. The kitchen is really nice…I could make some pasta sometime, have dinner and get to know each other.”

“Why not?” Baekhyun beamed, closing the door.

“Where is Jongdae?” Kyungsoo asked as they were both walking towards the living room.

“Told you, he has the tiredness syndrome or something like that. He needs a lot of sleep. Like, a lot a lot. He falls asleep every single time he does something that isn’t sleeping. You could say that you only have me as a roommate.”

“Cool…” Kyungsoo smiled, opening the fridge.

He took the bread and the cream chess and closed it back up. Then he remembered, he had forgotten to buy coffee. When he turned around, he saw Baekhyun stare at him with something that resembled a smile.

“Enjoy your breakfast. I’ll use the bathroom first. Be warned, I use a lot of perfume,” he laughed and walked out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song for this fic, I suppose: [ NCT 127-Highway to Heaven ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFoqGyWhMws)

Kyungsoo loved his job. That’s what he had been telling himself for the past 3 years, every single morning, without missing one. In fact, he was allowed to only miss the weekends, when there was no work required and he didn’t have to fix the grammatical mistakes of some _want to be future editors for some similar culinary column, only at a more prestigious magazine than the whatever one they had all been working at_. But no geniuses were coming out of their own little print, and he had known that soon enough when all his dreams and aspirations had been crushed like a bug under the heavy and dirty boot of his first month at the place.

He wasn’t saying anything to no one. It wouldn’t be of any help and plus, he could have his own kind of fun. Until he had to fix for the 100th time that week all the adverbs on a damn page like they hadn’t all in fact graduated a damn English degree. Those time, he would have just liked to storm in that asshole’s office, slam the door, make the window crack, throw some coffee all over his desk and resign.

But quickly, too quickly, the anger would fade away, at the thought of mountains of unpaid bills, no place to live in, the streets waiting for him with open arms.

So, there he was, fixing adverbs and rewriting those stupid columns about “10 tips and tricks on how to make the perfect summer salad dressing!”

That day it was his glory day. The day where they would announce salary raises and other types of raises. It had happened every year. It was also the day for firing people and making budget cuts but also raises. They had been selling better than in the past, thanks to some celebrity appearances and a rise in the popularity of magazines.

He was confident.

“Kyungsoo. Earth to Kyungsoo?”

“Hey, hi…” he mumbled, straightening his tie. “Uhm…want to talk to me…”

“Yes. In my office, please.”

The only visible and pungent problem was the editor in charge of the entire department was Jongin. Which could mean an obstacle between him, more money and those drawer dividers he had seen in Muji the other day.

“Sit, please.”

Kyungsoo coughed a little, pulling the chair from under the desk. The office looked better, he thought.

“Are we here to talk about my salary, because…”

“Job. We are here to talk about your position here.”

“Okay…” Kyungsoo said, glancing around.

The book was gone, okay, that was fine. Maybe he had borrowed it to someone, it made sense. But also the batman figurine, it wasn’t on the single shelf right next to that hideous plant. Well, maybe a kid stole it. Kids like figurines and Martha was known to bring her child to work when her nanny couldn’t get there in time. Surely her kid took it when no one had been around.

“I…We…” Jongin coughed, “want to thank you for your services, but your time here is over. You’ve done your job really well but we are looking for someone younger, with a fresher vision for the culinary column…someone with a hunch for such things. Coming up with amazing, never seen before recipes. Like those people on YouTube. I’m afraid your ideas are…too tame for us at this point. We are looking to expand ourselves.”

“You must be kidding me,” Kyungsoo mumbled and stood up. “You can’t be serious, Jongin. I know why you are doing this. It’s because of the incident, but why the fuck can’t you separate private life from personal?! I am good at my job, but I am a fucking editor…and those idiots also come up with ideas. I’m not fucking 50!”

“Please, watch your language.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Go to human resource to get your last payment. And…pick all your stuff from your desk. Please.”

“Jongin, for fuck’s sake, you know I need this job…after I moved out and I had to pay a damn premium over the rent…where do you think I can find the money for rent now? In my damn ass?!”

“Kyungsoo, please, be civilized.”

“Civilized my ass, you coward. You’ve just fired me because-because-“

“Kyungsoo, just leave if you don’t want to be escorted outside by the guards.”

He kicked the door shut with his foot and huffed.

“Rough day?” Baekhyun lifted an eyebrow, staring at him from the kitchen counter.

What the heck was with that air? It felt so dense, so thick with that grey matter that was beginning to look less and less like dust. He should do a full apartment cleanout and maybe open all those damn windows…oh, well, he had forgotten that soon enough he wouldn’t be able to pay for his damn room there.

“I got fired.”

“Oh…sorry. Anything to make it better? A shot, lemonade, a coffee? Some chips and jelly bears?”

“You have no food in that damn fridge,” Kyungsoo mumbled, throwing his backpack on the floor and kicked it with his shoe.

“I can order something. Really.”

“I don’t need to be even more in debt than I already am.”

“You don’t need to repay me,” Baekhyun laughed, walking towards him. “Look…you are quite a sight. I don’t want you to die underneath my roof.”

“Okay…” Kyungsoo sighed.

Baekhyun’s idea had been a great one; heck, fucking amazing! A full, happy stomach, a nice big pizza already eaten all by himself, some quite divine beer and a lot of chips and gummy bears, all spread across the kitchen table. Damn, he was in heaven. It didn’t even matter that he got fired. He could call that the best day of the damn month almost.

Kyungsoo knew it had been the best idea to follow his gut and move there.

“Feeling better?” Baekhyun smiled.

Kyungsoo nodded, wiping his mouth with a tissue.

“You haven’t eaten anything…”

“Oh, I’m on a diet. Got to keep my shape, you know?”

“I should keep my shape too…”

“You’re fine,” Baekhyun said, glancing towards his fingers.

There was a thump, coming from somewhere inside the apartment, and then another one, and Kyungsoo was certain that he could hear someone grunting in a room.

“Don’t worry, it’s just Jongdae. I think he woke up from his nap.”

“Oh…can I meet him? I’ve been living here for a while and I didn’t get to see him yet.”

“He’s been going through some rough times…”

Another thump, from the same direction, and an even louder grunt.

“Excuse me for a second,” Baekhyun said and stood up, walking down the hallway to what Kyungsoo supposed was Jongdae’s room.

Weird guy, he thought, taking another bite of the pizza. Another thud, and then it was all quiet.

“When he has nightmares, he usually punches everything with his feet and arms. Very noisy guy, sorry,” Baekhyun said.

“It’s alright…uhm, so now that I have no job…”

“You’ll find a new one, don’t worry.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Kyungsoo laughed, staring at the last slice of pizza right in front of him.

Out of a sudden, he wasn’t that hungry anymore; maybe because he was thinking about the money Baekhyun, a mere stranger had spent on all of that for him to eat it in less than an hour and the growing, bubbling fear about his incapacity of paying his rent anymore. He wasn’t even counting the electricity bill, the water bill, the gas bill, the food bill, well, you got the point. All the other things that were not rent.

“Sorry…” Kyungsoo mumbled, searching for his phone.

 _Jongin_. He wasn’t dreaming nor high. It was his name, calling him, hours after he had laid him off. Was he sure he wasn’t in fact dreaming?!

He picked up.

“Yes?”

Kyungsoo stood up from the table, starting to walk in circles, first around Baekhyun and the table, then through the living room and afterward in small circles everywhere he could until he stopped, dropped the phone and started jumping around.

“I got my job back! I just got my job back, can you believe it?!”

Baekhyun only smiled, looking at him.

“Congrats.”

“GOD! I GOT THE JOB BACK! I’M NO LONGER UNEMPLOYED!!” he said, jumping around, arms in the air until he stopped right in front of Baekhyun, who was still smiling while staring at him. “Sorry…that was…”

“Cute. It was cute.”

“Yeah…”

That same night, Kyungsoo met Jongdae. He wasn’t what he had expected. In fact, he wasn’t even sure what he had thought he would see eventually; a cave troll with a baseball bat coming out of a dark room, hungry for blood and human flesh. But it was just a guy, a lanky, glasses-wearing dude, with black hair and dimples whenever he would smile; but also one yawning all the damn time.

“Sleeping beauty is out of her castle!” Baekhyun had yelled, which made Kyungsoo step out of the bedroom and that’s how the “rendez-vous” happened.

“Shut up…who’s this?”

“This…is our new roommate,” Baekhyun said and for some reason, Kyungsoo felt like the air became even greyer, heavier if that was even possible.

Weighting down on his shoulders.

“Oh…hi, I’m Jongdae. You…?”

“Kyungsoo,” he said, extending his arm to shake his hand but Jongdae only yawned and turned around, closing the door to his room after himself.

“Is he…”

“Okay? Yeah, just grumpy after sleep. Don’t worry. So, you met us, finally.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Yeah…good night.”

Kyungsoo smiled, closing his door. He got his job back, he thought. That could have as well been the best day of his life. One of the best, anyway. Maybe, after all, the new apartment was all that he had been needing all along, some new beginning; a break from Jongin.

He sighed. Jongin…

The next few days, almost two weeks had been all a big blur without anything to remember or think about at any point. Kyungsoo was beginning to think that his move, or more so, the apartment had become his lucky charm. First, a free bagel and coffee one very rainy morning when he had lost the bus, then that damn salary raise he had been eyeing for the entire year and a new office too.

His old one had been flooded through some miracle of the high heavens which were, in fact, the rusty pipes right above his fake ceiling; one night after work one of them creaked and creaked, but no one was there to witness the sounds of the explosion of water falling down from the ceiling exactly on his desk.

The next day the whole thing was flooded and Jongin had no other choice but move him in a nicer office until his own would be renovated.

Kyungsoo was pumped for the first time in a long while. Even those kale recipes seemed better that day. He was editing for their website too, where trendier and cooler graduates were coming up with the strangest of recipes. But none cared as long as that coffee machine maker could make one damn cheap and decent soup which they would document through a bunch of artsy pictures that he would have to look through and choose the best ones.

When he arrived home, he had a surprise: Jongdae. Jongdae sitting at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper. He wasn’t sure which of the two was the weirdest.

“Hey…”

“Hi. So, how do you like living here? The last one fled in the middle of the night without even paying us for the hospitality.”

“Great, I love it,” Kyungsoo smiled. “I could cook tonight if you want.”

“Not that hungry…” Jongdae shrugged. “Didn’t hear any strange noises, did you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, opening the fridge.

Since he had arrived, the fridge was much better: filled with good food which could make even better dishes. He could even go to the grocery store and buy some beef to make lasagna, make give some to Jennie too. That would be such a great idea. Get to know her better.

“Nothing,” Jongdae shrugged. “So…you sleeping fine?”

“Mostly.”

“Good,” the other grinned. “This apartment really likes you.”

“I like it too. Honestly. I’m so happy to have found the Craigslist ad.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Baekhyun asked, appearing in the doorframe.

“Nothing important,” Kyungsoo shrugged, turning back to the fridge.

He could, of course, make some pasta that night, something simple and easy, but rather flavorful; he still had some of those expensive Italian spices that he could use. And kimchi, of course. There was that jar he had bought the other week-“World to Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun laughed, waving a hand before his eyes. “What were you thinking about? Food?”

“A little,” he laughed, his cheeks turning red.

“Jongdae is a little weird, so don’t listen to everything he says.”

“I have a question. Two, actually.”

“Okay…” Baekhyun said, raising an eyebrow.

Kyungsoo closed the fridge and leaned over the counter.

“What do you say about some home-cooked pasta? That’s the first one.”

“I…alright. Sounds amazing,” Baekhyun smiled, glancing back at Jongdae who seemed to have shivered a little.

“But dude, didn’t you get that ugly rash from eating pasta?” Jongdae asked.

“It was from the fish.”

“I’m pretty sure you have a gluten allergy or something.”

“My pasta is gluten-free,” Kyungsoo said.

“Pasta sounds amazing.”

“I’m going to sleep…” Jongdae yawned. “The rash…” he whispered.

“And what’s the second question?” Baekhyun asked.

“Uhm…Jennie, our neighbor. She seems sweet but also a little…weird? And scared of you guys.”

“Oh…Jennie. She’s…she’s had some problems in the past,” Baekhyun shrugged, opening the fridge. “So, what do you need for pasta?”

“Pasta and kimchi, tomato sauce, some olive oil, onions, spices…maybe some cheese.”

“Sounds good,” Baekhyun said, his face and body covered by the fridge door.

“Would you like to help?”

“I’m terrible at cooking,” the other laughed, his face peeking from behind the fridge door, half grinning, half laughing. “You need a lot of patience.”

“I edit culinary columns,” Kyungsoo laughed too.

“Good then. Teach me.”

Kyungsoo had been little surprised that Baekhyun was just as terrible as he had said at cooking; he had always found cooking humanity’s gift and teaching another person its art was a present in itself. Even though Baekhyun had almost lost the tip of his finger among the onion, or that all the oil has started jumping off the pan, or even the burnt onion incident all over the floor, that had been the best pasta he had ever eaten in his entire life.

In fact, it didn’t even matter, he had thought to stand in bed in the darkness of his own room, the final result. Baekhyun had looked so happy, laughing and cracking jokes all the time, praising his cooking abilities and just…he sighed, turning on the other side.

Why did he have to think out of all the people about Jongin? There was no room for him in his mind, and yet there he was, in his deep blue suit and light blue shirt, staring at him from the office door, shaking his head. Why had that incident had to happen? It had been stupid too. Not even anything worthwhile.

Kyungsoo had to admit: he wasn’t that disappointed. Jongin had always hated helping him in the kitchen and his jokes had never seemed to be that funny to him, no matter how many times he had been trying to prove him otherwise.

Baekhyun was enjoying them. Or was he faking it…liking his company?

He sighed again, pulling the covers over his head.

And then, he heard it, the first thud, follow by a squeak, like a bed spring coming loose when someone would jump on the mattress and then, the second thud, the creak of a floor and a groan. It reverberated through the rooms, the wall, feeling it sink deep into his bones. His flesh jiggled almost like it had been slapped.

Kyungsoo stood up, turning on the light. It was quiet. He was staring at the door, expecting it to smash against the wall open. But everything was still. No other noises, or thuds coming from inside the apartment. He must have been falling asleep, dreaming it all.

A whisper…he thought he heard a whisper, not a groan, a different voice from the first one. Kyungsoo stepped towards the wall separating his room from the hallway. His heart was beginning to beat faster, his palms getting sweatier. He took another step and twisted the key in the knob. Better. Another whisper, he could almost discern some words.

The third time he had realized it was all gibberish. Something creaked, too close to him. Kyungsoo jumped on the spot, looking back. Nothing, of course, it was nothing inside the room.

The floor creaked, the groan, it returned, louder that time; Kyungsoo covered both ears with his hands, falling down on the floor, his back on the door. That sound was still drilling through his brain, his entire being. Sending chills and small waves of shock, painful.

“Make it stop,” he whispered. “Make it stop.”

He woke up in the morning with the biggest headache of his life. What the heck had happened last night? That was all that he could think about as if his memory had been erased with a sponge. There was a huge blank space there, except for something resembling a groan that was still drilling through his head at the same time with the damned headache.

“Did anything happen last night?” Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun first thing when he saw him come out of the bedroom.

His skin looked a little paler, maybe his eyes sockets sunken in. He wasn’t sure.

“No…we all slept, didn’t we? Did you throw a party?” he winked.

“I swear I heard someone in pain last night.”

“Maybe just a bad dream,” Baekhyun shrugged.

“What did you say the last tenant was named?”

“Uhm…maybe Michael Dormer or something? I have a bad memory.”

Kyungsoo was pretty sure that Baekhyun didn’t have a bad memory and that also the last guy was not named Michael Dormer. The only person he could squeeze more information from was that girl, Jennie, who he hadn’t seen ever since.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure why he was so obsessed with that idea, of finding that dude. And then ask him what? The apartment was a dream and even his roommates. Everything was good, almost too perfect. Maybe that was the part that was frightening him: things going smoothly for him for once.

Kyungsoo walked inside the office, breathing in the air impregnated with the smell of paper and a tinge of dust and window cleaner. Heck, he liked it there. That was his place.

“Morning…” Jongin smiled from his office door.

“Hey…it’s sunny outside,” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“It is,” the other laughed.

“Uhm, have some time for a coffee?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah…I made two cups. Not sure why,” Jongin laughed, opening the door to let him inside.

Kyungsoo thought that the world had turned upside down and he was on the other side, with everything opposite to whatever was supposed to happen, happening. He couldn’t stop his heart from pounding as he sat down at the desk, taking the cup of coffee in his hands. The figurine was back on the shelf, and the book too. So no one stole them. Jongin had hidden them away. But why?

“The apartment is empty without you in it…cooking,” Jongin said. “It just smells like dust now.”

“I…” Kyungsoo whispered, not sure what to say.

He tried thinking about anything else but the Jongin standing right in front of him; his ex-roommate, guy that had kicked him out. He needed to focus on that small, little detail. And maybe that new drawer divider and the air freshener that he had just bought.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” Jongin continued after a while taking a sip from the coffee. “You don’t have to answer.”

“So…you aren’t upset anymore?”

“I overreacted.”

Kyungsoo smiled, staring down at his fingers. Maybe he was still holding a chance after all.

“No…I was stupid and jealous and all that other shit.”

“Jealous…” Kyungsoo laughed. “What for?”

“You and Sehun?”

“Sehun and me?” he raised both eyebrows. “I’ve known him since he was a baby. We are just very close but not…in that way. Why would you…”

Jongin laughed, shaking his head.

“You did break my dick though…”

“That was…”

“Yeah…it’s fine now. Still bandaged, but I’m over it. The doctor said it will be like new in no time…”

“You know I’m really, really sorry about that. I didn’t think the remote would…land there…I hope it would hit you in the chest or something.”

“I think we are both very sorry about everything.”

“Yeah…” Kyungsoo whispered, looking at his own blurry reflection in the coffee cup.

“Let’s start over. I’m Jongin,” he said, extending his arm towards him.

Kyungsoo looked at him and then at his spread fingers for a while before he shook his hand. “And I’m Kyungsoo. Nice to meet you.”

“Would you like to go on a date with me, Kyungsoo?”

He could only nod. Just nod. Nothing more.

Drawer dividers were on sale, the hugest sale on the best ones existent on Muji; clear, beautiful ones, scratch-resistant and exactly the size of his drawers. Kyungsoo was in the literal heaven of bedroom organization. He could just move in the store, make himself a nice comfortable bed in there and live among the glorious shelves of beautiful, Godly creations.

But he had to get home. He was excited, like a little puppy, he could say. So excited, that he did the groceries, both some extremely great looking, also too cheap to be true shrimp, and readied himself to make some shrimp salad with some mango tossed in there too.

“Had a good day?” Baekhyun asked from the couch.

He looked tired; judging from his gaunt-looking eyes, dark circles, and rather disheveled hair.

“Are you alright?”

“Didn’t sleep that well…” he said, shifting on the couch; he grabbed a pillow and pressed it against his chest.

“I’m making some shrimp salad. Want some?”

“I ate…”

“Baekhyun…” Kyungsoo sighed, stepping towards him. “You look ill. Maybe some soup? I could make some right now. There’s some leftover chicken in the fridge. It doesn’t take long and you’ll feel better in no time.”

Baekhyun smiled but didn’t answer right away.

“Okay…but I don’t want you to worry about me. Only a bad day, that’s all.”

“You helped me too,” Kyungsoo smiled.

Yes, he was feeling great, like helping people and doing nice things without waiting for a reward. And Baekhyun was indeed looking bad enough not to notice it straight away. He couldn’t just ignore it.

Jennie was going up the stairs as he was going down with the trash after he had given Baekhyun the soup. He had left him eating it. Maybe he had added a little too much salt in it.

“Hi.”

“Hey…” she whispered, rushing pass him, but Kyungsoo grabbed her wrist and held her into place.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to know what was the name of the guy that lived with them…please.”

Jennie sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Take your hand off me first. And second of all…how do I know you are not possessed?”

“What in the actual fuck?!”

“Okay, that sounded legit,” she laughed. “Jeremy Flynn. Happy?”

“And that’s all you know? Did he run in the middle of the night? Did he say anything?” Kyungsoo asked, leaning on the wall.

“He wasn’t much of a talker,” Jennie shrugged. “Well, maybe you’ll be sacrificed next,” she laughed and unlocked the door of her apartment. “Good luck.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. The girl must have been crazy, she had to be; otherwise, who would say stuff like that to newly moved-in neighbors?

He sighed. That night he hadn’t seen Baekhyun or Jongdae and the rest of it had passed without any other strange sounds to wake him up. So in the morning, he was feeling fresh. Heck, amazing. He had a date with the guy of his dreams and things were going better and better.

His life was a paradise.

Baekhyun was already sitting at the kitchen table, head over his arms, his back rising from time to time at the same time with a single strand of hair from the top of his head.

“Morning…”

“Hey…” Baekhyun whispered, glancing at him.

Were his circles even darker, his skin paler? Kyungsoo was unsure.

“You good?”

“Perfect. Bad sleep, again…” he sighed. “So…I made you breakfast,” Baekhyun grinned, standing up and running towards a plate on the counter, covered by another white plate. “Pancakes with whatever you want. I got strawberries.”

“You didn’t have to…”

“Well…had some spare time on my hands…it took a few tries to…you know, get them right.”

“How many tries?” Kyungsoo asked, stepping towards him.

“I…couldn't sleep that much last night. Like, I tried but I couldn’t so I started making pancakes.”

“Baek…are you alright?”

“Try them…I hope they compare to yours,” he smiled, hiding his face behind his widespread fingers.

Kyungsoo laughed a little and grabbed the first pancake; he took a bite. Soft, not too sweet but flavorful enough to be able to eat them just like they were.

“I forgot the coffee,” Baekhyun jumped around, striding towards the coffee maker; poured the liquid in a mug and then grabbed from the fridge the condensed milk. “Here.”

“Baek…I don’t want to sound like a total ass, but is there a reason why you are doing all of this?”

Baekhyun shrugged, pacing around with the hands-on his hips. Then he stopped, sighed and brushed the fingers through his hair.

“I just want to be a good roommate.”

“You were already.”

“Well, the best then. Enjoy the pancakes. Don’t eat them just for my sake if they taste like crap.”

But the pancakes were in fact very good, Kyungsoo thought. He wondered why the other was not eating together with him, and for some seconds he had been thinking about calling him, but at the last moment, he stopped himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS AHEAD:  
> -I suppose these are more on the lines of explantations that touch the are of spoilers too, but for those of you who might be interested...  
>  -basically, from the premise baekhyun is a demon and jongdae and angel; baekhyun was punished for taking advantage of people's feelings and basically doing whatever he wanted to them by using his seduction powers. therefore, he was punished for an eternity of living on earth and to never be loved by any living being; and at some point to meet that one person that he would fall in love with, but who won't return his feelings. to make everything even crueler, the love interest would become very lucky in his professional and love life. but with each lucky thing happening, baekhyun's energy and powers would slowly fade and eat at him until he would turn to a mere shadow, obliged to live on earth, unseen and heard by anyone (unless the love interest would somehow fall for him)  
>  -as for jongdae, he had been punished for being a very lazy and uncaring angel, therefore he was punished to a life of sleepiness and feeling tired all the time; therefore sleeping all the time and having no life outside of that.
> 
> basically, for both of them, the end is an eternity of being two shadows of what they had used to be in the past (but i won't let it get that grim though)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, i am not digging the way that i have written this; the idea is fine and the development i guess, even though maybe i should have spent more time on the weird occurrences and ksoo's opinions and feeling on all of that but whatever...what is done, it is done
> 
> hope you'll enjoy:)

Later, he thought that maybe everything had begun the day they had gotten themselves trapped in the elevator. That must have been the point when something had clicked between them, but at the moment he had not realized it, or at least he hadn’t wanted to until it had been too late and there was nothing that he could do about it anymore.

It had been an ordinary day at work, made not so ordinary by Jongin’s six-pack and smile from his office door when he got on their floor. Damn, he was one fine piece. Yeah, maybe he was superficial in what concerned his attraction towards the other, but Kyungsoo was thinking that love would grow out of it, when they would have discovered all there was to discover about their bodies and bodily pleasures. Then, it could all move on the more meaningful and touchy-feeling territory that was maybe scaring him a little.

But Jongin was everything he had ever dreamed of, excluding him getting kicked out of his own place or that bad case of a broken penis.

The day had been rather amazing, with a date-lunch at a fancy place near their building, an equally amazing kiss and an ass grab that made him blush to the tops of his ears. Nothing could go wrong that day except for getting trapped in a damn elevator.

He was holding a plant, a new plant especially bought for his lucky charm of an apartment. Baekhyun was with him inside, coming from God knew where. Maybe work, but the other wouldn’t say.t His eye bag was worse than usual, skin paler and sunken in the hollows of his cheeks; thinner even, the clothes hanging loosely on his body.

“You good?” Kyungsoo asked when he pressed down on the button.

“Perfect…” the other smiled right when the elevator made a screeching noise, seemed like it stopped but continued its accession.

“I hate elevators.”

“Oh…”

Another screech, louder and piercing and the elevator stopped without starting again. The light went off and Kyungsoo blinked once, twice, three times to see anything.

“Are we…” he whispered, touching the back wall with the palm of his hand. “Fuck…”

“We are going to be alright…” Baekhyun said, turning on his phone. “I’m calling Jongdae. Fuck…there’s no reception in here.”

“We are going to die in here.”

“You claustrophobic?” Baekhyun asked, sitting on the floor.

He turned on the flashlight, placing the phone on the ground, right in front of him.

“A little…”

“Hey, we’ll die together if it helps,” Baekhyun laughed.

“So…” Kyungsoo whispered, glancing around and then back at the phone between them; he sighed and sat down, close to Baekhyun, placing both hands behind his head. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure…anything.”

“Uhm, so…I think I’m together with my former roommate. My boss, actually. Like…is this real life anymore?”

“Why? Is he that great?” Baekhyun asked, looking suddenly even paler and thinner.

Kyungsoo nodded. “He has it all, you know? The looks, the brain. You should see how he looks.”

“You are not that bad looking either…” Baekhyun said, poking his cheek. “But the cute kind of good looking.”

“Is that bad? Do you think he might want me to be…more…”

“Sexy and muscular and shit?” Baekhyun asked, bursting in laughter. “I think dudes like him want cute boyfriends. Opposites attract.”

“I should go to the gym though…”

Baekhyun moved his head a little to the side, sucking his bottom lip inside of his mouth while looking at Kyungsoo; then, as if he had realized that he had been staring, his hands fell down on his lap and his gaze moved towards his own shoes.

“Toning would be good. Uhm…”

“I’m still listening,” Baekhyun smiled.

“This is embarrassing.”

“Oh, come on. If we die in this elevator, nobody will know what we talked about. Not even us. So, go ahead. Live your last seconds to the fullest.”

“Hey…” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“Sorry. But really, I won’t judge.”

“What if I’m bad at it…?”

“Do you mean…sex?” Baekhyun laughed.

Kyungsoo nodded.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll find it cute and plus…exercising makes everything much better. A lot of exercises.”

“You think so?”

“Just be yourself.”

“Thanks…”

“Oh, the elevator is working,” Baekhyun said, jumping to his feet. “We’ll survive!!”

For some strange reason, at the end of it, Kyungsoo wasn’t feeling relieved; in fact, he didn’t want it to end; he wanted to remain trapped for a while longer with Baekhyun and just talk. About what, he wasn’t sure.

He missed chatting with someone, just saying whatever there was to be on his mind without any fear. And Baekhyun was exactly that. His little gateway for everything he had always wanted to say out loud but couldn’t.

After the elevator incident, he had been seeing less and less of Baekhyun around the apartment, and more of Jongdae; surrounded by the smell of coffee, big jugs of the black liquid and more pots and machines lying around on the counter. It looked like a strange kind of café, only that he was the only customer.

“Uhm…morning,” Kyungsoo said, opening the fridge.

Another glass container, filled to the brim with coffee. It had spilled a little, pooling around the food on the shelf, trickling down everywhere else.

“Jongdae…what’s with this much coffee?”

“What?” the other yawned, pouring himself another cup.

He drank it, like an alcohol shot and poured a second one.

Kyungsoo shook his head, sighing; he picked some bread and cream cheese and closed the fridge. Later, that was for later to be dealt with.

Get some wipes and some cleaning solution; make a full kitchen cleaning session, arrange the drawers, the dishes, and the cutlery. Maybe even buy some separate plastic containers, he had seen some for very cheap.

His foot stuck to the floor. More coffee dried up.

“Damn it…” he mumbled, placing the food on the counter, where he could find some space.

A half-empty cup, another empty one and a jug of coffee that smelled strange.

“Jongdae…you got to clean this mess, honestly. The kitchen will get covered in coffee pots. This is not healthy.”

He looked over, where the other was sitting. In fact, where the other was sleeping, on a chair, his head slowly falling down to his chest. What was wrong with those people, he wondered.

That day it had been raining on and on. Kyungsoo was standing in front of the open window, watching the drops fall over the roofs of the houses ahead, making the leaves of the trees bend down on their weight. He was feeling good, that day. Calm. As he was watching the rain and feeling the light blow of the wind, brushing through his hair, he saw Baekhyun; from the corner of his eye, entering the kitchen. There wasn’t anything different about him in particular. Not at a first look. Eye bags, dark circles, and his pale skin.

Baekhyun sighed, leaning on the window sill, right next to him.

“I am worried about Jongdae…” Kyungsoo said, glancing at him.

Maybe he had known it before, that something was not right. Of course, he had known, but it seemed so obvious to him in that moment. It was raining and somehow he could see the houses and the raindrops through his body; he was no more than a blurry window, a cover-up. There it was, the rest of the world, right beneath his skin and flesh.

Kyungsoo shook his head. It was gone. Baekhyun looked just the same. Tired, maybe. He was going crazy. He had to be. Nothing was making sense anymore.

“Jongdae is alright…” the other said.

“He’s drinking too much coffee. It took me 4 hours to clean the place.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“I did.”

“Kyungsoo…” Baekhyun sighed, looking at him.

“You don’t look that great either. Is everything alright?”

“Of course…” he smiled. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

He had to be going crazy, what other explanation would it be other than that?

“We could watch a movie or something…” Baekhyun said. “Seems like the weather for it.”

“Okay.”

Kyungsoo had chosen the movie, sat down on the couch and covered himself with a blanket; the rain had made the air chillier, almost cold and he had been shivering for a while. Baekhyun sat next to him, without saying anything. He turned the movie on.

“Have you ever thought about soulmates?” Baekhyun asked after a while his gaze focused on the screen.

“Sometimes…”

“Do you think you and Jongin are soulmates?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kyungsoo laughed and glanced at the other.

Baekhyun smiled, playing with the edges of the blanket.

“But the sex is really good…like, really, really good.”

“Sex is important but…I was talking about…it sounds stupid, sorry. Let’s watch this.”

“No, say…” Kyungsoo said, touching his leg with his knee.

“Like…do you feel something in your soul something?” Baekhyun said and laughed a little. “Do you feel at peace when you are with him? That you couldn’t ever need anything else ever again?”

“Is that more a question for yourself?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Are you…in love with someone?”

“Maybe.”

“I can listen…”

“I know, it’s just…it hurts more than anything.”

“Is that why you’ve been like this lately?”

“It consumes me, you know? Feeling…love. Don’t laugh,” Baekhyun said, slapping his thigh.

“I wasn’t going to. Yeah, sex is good with Jongin but I wouldn’t say I feel love. He hates talking about feelings or cooking together or…” he shrugged. “That’s who he is.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“It’s enough for now. But tell me about the person you love. A girl or a guy?”

Baekhyun smiled and grabbed the edge of the blanket, pulling it over his face until they burst into laughter and Kyungsoo leaned over his shoulder, pushing him until they both fell down; Baekhyun on the couch, and Kyungsoo, with a helpful kick from the other, sandwiched between the couch and the glass table.

“It’s a guy.”

“Aaaaaand…”

“Aaaaaand…he’s a little weird and doesn’t know how I feel.”

“Why don’t you confess?”

“Because…he will never love me. Not in that way. That’s a given. We can only be friends.”

“He’s an idiot, then.”

“He’s realistic.”

“An idiot,” Kyungsoo said, taking back his place on the couch, closer than before to Baekhyun. “So if he can’t appreciate you then kick him in the nuts and find someone worthy.”

“Not that simple.”

“I could kick him.”

“You’re only talk.”

“Not true,” Kyungsoo laughed.

“Don’t kick him…I might need those nuts,” Baekhyun grinned. “But thanks…really.”

“Always,” Kyungsoo whispered.

He stayed like that for a while, unsure, but then, under the blanket, he found the other’s hand and intertwined their fingers, squeezing them a little.

“Is it wrong that I have no feelings for him…?” Kyungsoo asked after a while, not letting go of his hand.

“You aren’t harming anybody. And I’m pretty sure Jongin is the same way…”

“I guess. That should have hurt, but it doesn’t.”

“Better for you. It’s shitty to hurt.”

Kyungsoo knew he got lucky. Again. Lucky for not getting caught, as Jongin couldn’t keep it in his pants, not even at work. It wasn’t helping the fact that the walls of the office were made out of glass; half-transparent, but the one through which you could still discern shapes and bodies.

“We’ll get caught…”

“No, we won’t, babe…I’m just really horny,” the other whispered in his ear while he was bent over the desk. “I know you want it…”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, trying not to think about anything. But he couldn’t stop the thoughts from swarming inside of his head.

“Do you ever think about anything else but fucking?”

“You are destroying the mood…” the other sighed, taking a step back.

“Am I? You only want to have sex with me. That’s it.”

“That’s not true…” Jongin laughed.

“Really?”

Jongin mumbled something that Kyungsoo couldn’t hear and for a moment he thought that everything was funny; looking at him, with his pants fallen around his ankles and briefs midway on his thighs. Heck, he started laughing for some reason. He should have taken a picture.

Jongin zipped up his pants, followed by Kyungsoo who still couldn’t stop his laugh that was beginning louder and louder. He stopped, after a while, knowing he was being watched.

“What’s so funny?”

“Everything.”

“Really? I thought you knew this…” Jongin said, pointing at the two of them, “is for fun. We were having fun before you started with his sentimental bullshit. I never said that I want to get romantic with you. And you seemed to enjoy the sex just fine.”

“Asshole,” Kyungsoo whispered. “You should have made yourself clearer, asshole.”

Well, apparently, either his luck had ended, or whatever he had deemed as good luck had in fact only been just bad luck, masked under that premise. The day was shitty and maybe, in fact, he had always cared about what Jongin had been thinking about him. Not much, apparently.

He went to Ikea and sniffed every candle that he had seen on the shelf until he couldn’t differentiate one scent from the other, and picked two and a nice, light brown blanket; those were good enough for cheering himself up. Light them, get under the blanket and just watch some show until morning.

That seemed like the perfect plan.

When he opened the apartment door, the smell of coffee and something almost medicinal hit him in the face; he almost couldn’t breathe. Kyungsoo ran towards the windows, holding his breath, and opened them all.

There was no one inside, but the air had that heaviness to it, like the first time he had entered the place; grey particles, floating in front of his face, through the air. It seemed to be a buzzing around him, coming from the walls to the floor and the air itself. His body was caught in all of it.

Kyungsoo walked into the hallway and stopped, glancing from one door to the other; he didn’t want to open any of them. The buzzing intensified as if he was closer to its source, followed by a thud and a screech. He closed his eyes, stepping back until he touched the wall. Reverberating through his skin, inside his body.

Second, after second, it was harder to breathe, like the air was harder to find, replaced by those grey particles.

Kyungsoo opened his eyes and stepped towards one door, the one on his left; he counted 10 seconds in his head and twisted the knob until the door was creaking open.

The room was dark, and it was the first time that it had down on him that he had never seen any of the other bedrooms in the apartment. There, the air was thicker, made only out of those particles, vibrating and buzzing. He pushed the door open and stopped.

His fingers clasped around the knob. He gulped down, only staring. What was there to say or hope? Heck, he was hoping it was only a dream, but that would have been too good.

“Is this why…that guy left in the middle of the night?” he asked, hearing his voice coming from far away.

It wasn’t making any sense, but somehow, his body and his inner being were being separated, twisted and contorted. He felt like puking.

“You should leave…”

“What are you!?” Kyungsoo yelled, making a step forward.

But it was even harder to move, everything spinning around with him. He closed his eyes and opened them back. It was all gone. The room looked normal.

No, it couldn’t be possible.

“Tell me that I’m being drugged or something?”

But it had to be real. Baekhyun was standing right in front of him, but he seemed made out of glass, as he was transparent. There were only the contours of his body, like a drawing.

“I wish…you should leave.”

“Where?” Kyungsoo laughed. “What are you?”

“Kyungsoo…you won’t remember anything in the morning.”

“How do you know that? Am I drugged?! Just tell me for fuck’s sake!”

Baekhyun breathed in, leaning on the closet next to him; he opened his eyes and they were no longer brown and ordinary, but bright red, staring back at him. Kyungsoo took a step back but Baekhyun walked towards him and suddenly, the air squeezed around him and he couldn’t make any other move.

“You have to go back to your room and sleep. In the morning, you will think that you just watched a movie and then went to sleep early,” Baekhyun said, still staring at him.

“Are you trying to hypnotize me?” Kyungsoo laughed. “Are you insane? Jennie told me that you are a schizophrenic.”

“You know what you saw…” Baekhyun whispered. “That’s not what…someone like you can do.”

“Someone like me?”

Baekhyun nodded and closed his eyes again; his body trembled, the grip loosening on the edge of the closet as he fell down on the floor. Kyungsoo didn’t know what made him do that, to run towards him and cradle the other in his arms.

He could see everything through Baekhyun’s body; his own hands, arms, legs. There was barely anything left out of Baekhyun, except for those two, incandescent eyes.

“Baek…Baek, tell me what’s wrong. I just want to know,” Kyungsoo whispered, trying to brush away the hair from his forehead, but his fingers were going through it, unable to touch anything.

“You are stupid sometimes…” Baekhyun smiled, opening his eyes.

“I know…but just tell me, please.”

“I am turning into a shadow.”

“Baek, this is not possible.”

Baekhyun laughed, looking at him again. “I’m…a demon. Please don’t laugh or think that I am insane. You saw what you saw and heard what you heard. You knew since the first moment you came in here that something was not normal.”

“Baek…you need help, we should get you to a hospital to-“

“I’m a demon punished to live on earth for eternity for all the shitty things I did before…there’s nothing a human doctor can do to help me. I can’t die but I will turn to a shadow for an eternity I suppose.”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, trying to figure which one of them was crazier; Baekhyun, or him for almost believing everything.

“Why were you punished?”

Baekhyun smiled, shifting a little so that he could lean with his back on the closet.

“Because I was making people fall in love with me and taking advantage of them. After I would get whatever I wanted…I would discard them and let them suffer. So…I got sent here, to never be able to be loved by someone but eventually fall in love and suffer from it. Seems like the final shit is to turn into a damn ghost. That’s fun,” he laughed.

“There’s no demons or punishments or-“

“Of course there are. You have one right in front of you and an angel in the other room.”

“Jongdae?”

“Well, you actually thought that the constant sleeping was due to an illness? That’s his punishment for being a lazy angel.”

“I’m not sure what to say…”

“It’s fine like this.”

Kyungsoo sighed and sat like that, not thinking about anything. There was nothing to think about. Everything made sense, but the sense in the weirdest of ways possible.

“So…have you fallen in love?”

Baekhyun laughed again.

“You know…I’ve been here for 300 years. And I’ve never loved someone. Never. But then, it just happened. Maybe not suddenly…but I started feeling it. Horrible but good at the same time.”

“Is that about the person you’ve been talking about?”

Baekhyun nodded, glancing at him. His eyes were back to normal, brown and soft instead of glowing red.

“So…that someone cannot love you because of the curse?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s cruel.”

“I was cruel.”

“Baek…”

“You haven’t known me before. I wasn’t…like this. Making pancakes and watching movies with my roommate. Trust me. I would have…hurt you. Sometimes, those instincts come back and…” he whispered the last words, closing his eyes.

“What…? Just say it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I cannot hurt you, not if I wanted to.”

“Baek…”

“Look…don’t feel bad, because it’s none of your fault. But it’s you. You are the one making me be this way.”

“I’m turning you into a ghost?”

“Think…”

“Oh…” Kyungsoo whispered.

That was even worse. A demon loving him. Or an imaginary one, as they could both be high or anything in between. Nothing was real, it couldn’t be.

“And because I’m not in love with you…?”

“I don’t really know. It’s the first time I…feel anything for someone. Not sure how this whole “being cursed” shit works. But I do know no one has ever fallen in love with me ever since…”

“I like you.”

“But you can’t love me. Liking me is not enough.”

“I can…fall in love with you. If I try.”

“Kyungsoo. This is not your punishment. I deserve it,” Baekhyun smiled. “You know…when I saw you, that day…I knew something bad would happen. But I just couldn’t turn you away. Something was making me have you in here…”

“I don’t want you to…to die because of me.”

“See…you’d only do it out of pity. I don’t want that. Not your pity. In the morning you won’t be able to remember anything.”

“Baek, don’t do this.”

“In the morning…” he said, “you’ll take your things, go to your old apartment and tell Jongin that you are sorry and that you want to move in with him.”

“No, you can’t do this. We broke up, I don’t love him! I will never love him!!”

“You can’t live here anymore!!!” Baekhyun shouted, standing up. “Go back to your bedroom and lock the door unless you want to die!”

“You wouldn’t do that!”

“GO!”

But in the morning, Kyungsoo could remember everything. His red eyes, his transparent body, all the objects floating inside of the room.

Baekhyun was standing in the kitchen, his body having the same transparency to it.

“Morning…”

“Hey…I can remember everything,” Kyungsoo said, sitting down next to him. “Everything from last night.”

Baekhyun didn’t say anything but sighed.

“You should have forgotten it all.”

“But I didn’t. And maybe that is with a purpose too.”

“Unlikely.”

“Or not…?” Kyungsoo said, raising an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t pity you.”

“The only reason you are willing to…be with someone like me is that you feel sorry. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

“I won’t,” Kyungsoo said, touching his hand. “Maybe that’s the whole thing…letting someone in?”

“You will regret it…”

“I will find that out for myself, alright?”

“As you wish,” Baekhyun shrugged.

“You know how to ruin everything, don’t you?”

“See, we are already fighting? Love is overrated. It doesn’t even exist.”

“Then turn into a ghost,” Kyungsoo said and walked over to the kitchen.

“Alright, alright…stope being pissed off. I kind of told you I have gross feelings for you that will bite me in the ass. Do you need a declaration too?”

“Fine like this. One question. Can you eat...stuff?”

“Nope. I only pretended. That also bit me in the ass,” Baekhyun said.

“Why?”

“Well…I was sick afterward. I am not supposed to eat.”

“And the goat incident?”

“I was bored so I started raising a goat…then it got too big, the neighbors started noticing so I brought it to a farm.”

“You don’t actually practice Satanism or drink blood?” Kyungsoo laughed, looking at him.

“No and no. I am only a tortured soul. I want people to worship me, I don’t want to worship a goat dude that doesn’t even exist. So no to both.”

“So…will you ever be saved and go back to whatever you were before?” Kyungsoo asked, closing the fridge.

Baekhyun shrugged. “This didn’t come with an instructions manual.”

“Okay…”

“For the record, you are the exact opposite of the kind of guy I would want to fuck,” Baekhyun grinned.

“Is this supposed to make me love you or something?”

“Sorry…it was supposed to mean that it makes everything even more…”

“Fucked up? Yeah,” Kyungsoo mumbled, placing the bread and cream cheese on a plate.

He took a mug and filled it with some coffee from the 10th machine lying in their kitchen and placed it next to the sandwich.

“Aren’t you eating in here?”

“Somehow you managed to ruin my mood.”

“Hey, Kyungsoo. Sorry about-“

“Look. I’m sorry you are turning into a ghost because of me and probably this is one big joke that the universe is playing on both of us. But if you don’t want to turn into fucking thin air, you shouldn’t be an asshole.”

“Hey…I thought you’d laugh.”

“Not sure which one of us is supposed to feel bad for who.”

“Kyungsoo…” Baekhyun mumbled and grabbed his wrist. “Don’t be upset. I didn’t mean to. Damn it. I’m all mooshy because of this.”

“See? It’s only a joke on both of us. You are programmed to feel loved, but your brain and everything else cannot. It’s not real.”

“So you are going to let me turn into a ghost?”

“Last night you wanted me to move out. Now, what’s changed?”

“I don’t want you to move out. I only said it to protect you. But now you know…and maybe that would break the curse or something. And then I won’t ever annoy you. I’ll be out of your life in no time.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

“Good, partner.”

Kyungsoo was sitting in bed, thinking that he had to be going crazy. Or on drugs. Maybe Baekhyun had given him some very weird drugs to distort his reality. Or…maybe he was the schizophrenic one. Why didn’t he leave when he had the chance? In fact, he could still pack things and move somewhere else.

Go back to his parents’ house for a while, find a different house, change his name. Escape whatever that insanity was.

His free day was a damn shitty one after all.

A knock at the door. He knew it had to be Baekhyun. He sighed and said: “Come in.”

“So…” Baekhyun grinned, closing it. “I got you this. Fancy body lotion. Saw you once gawking at it and I thought…you might like it.”

“What is it for?”

“Just a gift.”

“Baek…”

“Aren’t people that like each other supposed to give each other gifts? I read it online or something.”

“You don’t have to spend money on expensive shit so that I would fall in love with you. Love cannot be bought.”

“Well, back in the day I didn’t need anything to make people want to have sex with me,” Baekhyun grinned, sitting down on the bed.

“Well, love is more than sex.”

“I know that.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Okay, maybe it is a new concept for me but…”

“Stop buying me expensive stuff. And return it.”

“Use it,” Baekhyun smiled. “You’ll smell nice and have soft skin.”

“See? You’re still thinking about it. I broke up with Jongin because he was only looking for sex. Nothing else. That is not love to me.”

“I am better than him,” he said, looking at him. “I mean it.”

“You should prove it.”

“I bought you a damn expensive body cream…did he ever get you something that you like? Except for his dick.”

“No, but that is not the point.”

“Well, you should be a good boyfriend too-“

“I never said I am your boyfriend.”

“Why are you so complicated?” Baekhyun mumbled. “People were never complicated when I was a demon.”

“Let’s watch a movie…” Kyungsoo sighed. “I don’t want to argue with you.”

“We are already arguing.”

“I think you might be a little bit less transparent,” Kyungsoo said, poking his arm. “You should thank me for not turning right now in a ghost.”

“I would haunt you forever, you know?” Baekhyun said but then grinned. “Look…I’m trying to make you see that I can have feelings and that I care about you…just, tell me what to do or what I’m doing wrong.”

Kyungsoo sighed, glancing at him.

“I…I should be honest.”

“Okay…”

“I don’t think I have any feelings for you, yet. But…it won’t hurt helping you and possibly breaking that curse. Or, it’s also possible that I am heavily drugged and none of this is real. Which seems more plausible than anything else…”

Baekhyun smiled, leaning on his shoulder.

“Thanks…for being honest.”


	4. Chapter 4

Kyungsoo would have resigned if he had the financial possibilities to do without that job. So, he did not. Well, simply pretending Jongin was not there, right in front of him, could work too. He just had to pretend. Like with everything in his life at that point.

Pretend that everything was all right, that the kitchen was not a mess filled with coffee, or that he either was going insane or that Baekhyun was actually a demon being punished for his sins.

Maybe the last one was the worst.

Or the worst part was that he was still living in the same place.

It had been a month since the big incident and except for Baekhyun’s transparency, nothing had changed.

He opened the door and stepped inside. Baekhyun was enrolled in some painting classes, from home, considering his strange condition, so the place had been smelling for quite a while like oil paints and coffee. He didn’t even know what he hated more between the two.

That day, he was painting lavender. A lavender field.

“Hey…”

“Do you like it?”

“Looks pretty good,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

He opened the fridge. All empty. Damn it.

“Why do I have to be the only person in here that eats?”

“And Jongdae drinking coffee,” Baekhyun laughed, glancing at him. “How was work?” he asked, stepping towards Kyungsoo.

He wrapped both arms around his body and Kyungsoo shivered, taking a step back. No matter how much he had been trying to tell to himself that it was alright, that Baekhyun looked pretty human after all, he could not be that close to him. Not in the way he knew that the other wanted him to.

“Sorry…I…”

“I should go shopping.”

“I can come with you,” Baekhyun said. “I’ll put on a hoodie and I should be alright.”

“Okay.”

Sometimes, at night, he had been thinking that maybe being closer and lovey-dovey with Baekhyun would break that curse and finally make him go back to his demon self. But that was only making him laugh in the end because he couldn’t believe himself when he was taking the whole deal seriously. He just couldn’t.

Baekhyun’s hand touched the back of his.

“Sorry…”

But Kyungsoo intertwined their fingers, squeezing them a little. He could do that. Baekhyun was smiling and his skin became less transparent than before. It was working, he knew that. And it wasn’t even about his feelings, but about the way, Baekhyun was perceiving his actions.

Making him believe that he was in love could work, break that curse chain and free him somehow. But that would be cruel, he thought.

“That’s a cute puppy,” Baekhyun grinned, dragging him towards the window of a pet shop.

“It is…” Kyungsoo smiled, but instead of looking at the animal, he was looking at the other.

He was happy, or he seemed to be.

“Come on. I’m hungry.”

So, when he found himself carrying said puppy in a box, right after work, to their apartment, he wasn’t that surprised. A puppy would be better than a goat. And plus, he wasn’t that indifferent to it either, so he was fine with it. In the other hand, he had a bag with everything that a puppy would need, or he hoped so.

At least that had been what the shop assistant had told him.

“Baek, can you come over?”

He heard the other’s footsteps, closer and closer. Kyungsoo placed the box on the floor, took the puppy out of it and held it behind his back.

“What’s up?”

“I have something for you…” he smiled, showing him the puppy.

“Oh…my…” Baekhyun whispered, running towards him. “Is that…the puppy from yesterday?”

“Well,…it could be…”

“Kyungsoo…” he grinned, taking the puppy in his arms. “I’ll name him…Cheddar. What do you say?” he said, hugging the dog and kissing the top of his head.

Kyungsoo was smiling, looking at the two of them and more so at Baekhyun, at how alive and real he looked; not transparent but like a real human being. So it didn’t matter, after all, his feelings, but how the other was perceiving them.

“Thanks…” Baekhyun said, looking at him.

For some reason, Kyungsoo was feeling worse than ever. Heck, Baekhyun was happy, he should be feeling happy too that at least he was yet to be a ghost.

“Really…you’re a great friend.”

“I think Cheddar needs a bath. I bought him a bunch of stuff,” Kyungsoo smiled, ruffling Cheddar’s fur.

He knew that Baekhyun was staring at him, for too long to be a coincidence; he could tell where his gaze was focused. Cold sweat was trickling all over his body, trying not to think about it. Stepping back, yes, that could work.

“Is…kissing you off-limits?” Baekhyun asked.

“I…”

Baekhyun laughed a little, looking at Cheddar. “I’ll go wash this guy.”

“Baek…”

“No, I get it. I really do. Please don’t be upset.”

And he could tell, the way he was slowly turning transparent again; he could see the bookshelf behind him. It didn’t work, buying his love, his happiness.

“I’m going to wash Cheddar.”

That night, he couldn’t sleep. Turning from one side to the other, he knew he wouldn’t rest. So he stood up and opened the door. He stayed like that, listening to the sounds in the apartment.

Then, he took one step, then another, towards Baekhyun’s bedroom. He had never been there at night and he wasn’t sure what he should expect. Kyungsoo knocked.

He heard shuffling from inside, Cheddar barking and the door creaking open.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Baekhyun asked.

“I could ask the same thing…”

“I…don’t sleep.”

“Oh…” Kyungsoo whispered.

“Do you want to come inside? I promise there are no dead bodies.”

“I know…” he smiled.

The room was nice. He hadn’t really looked at it the first time but glancing around, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Just a room and Cheddar sleeping on top of a blanket.

“My…place,” Baekhyun laughed and sat down on the bed.

“If you don’t sleep what do you do…to pass time?”

“Well, in the past I would, you know…have a lot of sex. But now I just watch a bunch of TV shows.”

“Oh…”

“Sit. We could watch something or you could sleep and I can watch something,” Baekhyun said. “Or…you don’t have to sleep here, of course. But I promise I don’t drink people’s blood. Or do anything weird. I’m harmless as of the last 300 years. Except for my lucky charm abilities and a lovely curse. And immortality and some other demon stuff that I can still do.”

“I want to sleep here…it would have been nice if you could…”

“Sleep? Yeah…”

Kyungsoo thought that Baekhyun was looking better than a couple of hours ago. Or it was all in his head.

“Cheddar is very cute.”

“I know. What would happen if the curse would be over?” Kyungsoo asked, shifting on the bed until his back was leaning on the headboard.

He placed a pillow behind and hugged his knees at the chest.

“Not sure…”

“And Jongdae?”

Baekhyun shrugged.

“He manages…”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, moving lower in the bed until his head was on the pillow; he pulled the blanket over his body and sighed.

“Sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll turn off the light then.”

“And you?” Kyungsoo asked, opening his eyes.

“I’ll open the laptop and watch something. Hope it’s not…annoying.”

Kyungsoo shook his head; when Baekhyun sat down next to him, he was unsure. But, after a couple of counted seconds, he moved closer to him, resting his arm over his middle. He nestled his head close to the other’s neck, throwing a leg over him.

Baekhyun laughed.

“Made yourself comfortable?”

Kyungsoo smiled and looked at him; he nodded.

“Sleep tight…”

“Yeah…”

He slept well, which was against everything he had thought that would happen after all. But being there, next to Baekhyun made him fall asleep almost immediately and wake up 1 minute before the alarm went off. The other was already awake, an arm over his body, reading.

“Hey…” Kyungsoo whispered, rubbing his eyes.

“You didn’t really move last night.”

“I usually sleep in the same spot.”

“Yeah…” Baekhyun smiled, brushing his fingers through Kyungsoo’s hair; it made him shiver, the coldness of the fingertips on his warm skin, but he closed his eyes, sighing.

“Uhm…I suppose you want to eat.”

The alarm went off and Kyungsoo closed it, standing up.

“You could come with me.”

Baekhyun followed him down the hallway and sat down at the table, watching him pull food out of the fridge, frying an egg and toasting the bread; it was beginning to smell like warm food and coffee, freshly made. And milk and a yesterday warmed up a cinnamon croissant.

“What are you reading?” Kyungsoo asked, taking a bite out of the egg sandwich.

“Pets’ cemetery. Stephen King is pretty good at this horrible thing.”

“Well, you could write some fantasy novel about a demon being punished and meeting a mortal with whom he falls deeply in love,” Kyungsoo smiled.

“I don’t know the end of it. Yet.”

They both sighed and Kyungsoo wondered whether the end was the one he had begun imagining for a while now. He didn’t like to think about it that much. But sometimes he couldn’t help it. What if Baekhyun turned back to normal and he would be the only one fucked up by the whole thing.

He would be the one to suffer in the end.

“Hey…what are you thinking about?” Baekhyun asked. “I know I’m too irresistible to stop thinking about me…but…” he laughed.

Jongdae entered the kitchen that very moment and Kyungsoo was glad. He didn’t want to talk about his feelings first thing in the morning.

“Coffee…oh damn, I can’t even smell it without puking.”

“Have you tried caffeine pills?” Kyungsoo asked.

“That’s a good idea. How do I get those?”

“The pharmacy?” he shrugged.

“I’ll try…if I don’t fall asleep until then. You look better,” Jongdae pointed at Baekhyun.

In fact, he looked the best for a couple of weeks. His cheeks were rosy and full, as well as his lips, and the eye bags were almost gone.

Kyungsoo felt relieved and proud of himself that everything was working out. It was not all for nothing.

Baekhyun was grinning, and before he could say anything, the other was brushing his fingers through his hair. He liked it.

“I’ll be late for work,” Kyungsoo said and stood up, knocking the chair over.

“You can go. I’ll wash the dishes,” Baekhyun said.

Kyungsoo had been thinking the entire day whether he was falling in love or not; it was not like he could just pinpoint his feelings, extract them and do a full analysis. In fact, he didn’t know and he wasn’t that willing to know in the end.

The culinary column had turned into 5 pages of seasonal foods for autumn, all inspired, from what Kyungsoo could tell, by anything but the imagination of anyone working in that department. There was even a kitchen, for testing, but everyone was using it to eat lunch in there.

He sighed, moving on to the next page.

“10 ways to decorate your kitchen for fall.”

Was that even related to cooking, he wondered. And he gave them clear instructions about what to write in that damn issue. He could care less about leaf garlands and pinecone scented oils.

But after all, he couldn’t care less about the column for a while, so he didn’t say anything, just went over it, changed some stuff here and there, made it more eye-catching and called it a day.

Cheddar was waiting for him at the front door, wiggling his tiny tail that evening.

“Hi…what are you doing over here?” he smiled, taking him in his arms.

“We were going for a walk but I couldn’t find a leash,” Baekhyun said. “Coming with us?”

“Sure.”

Cheddar was not much of a walker, as most of the time Baekhyun had carried him in the arms. “You got me a lazy dog,” Baekhyun laughed.

“He can hear you.”

“Shhh…”

They sat down on a bench in a small park, not talking.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure…”

“What made that guy leave in the middle of the night?”

“Well…the noises in the middle of the night. The atmosphere…” Baekhyun shrugged. “He was annoying, anyway.”

“Baek…”

“Okay, I had a little bit of fun and played some pranks on him.”

“Why didn’t you play pranks on me?”

“Because…I felt something the first moment I saw you. Like…I don’t play pranks on people I like. Or love. Or whatever,” Baekhyun mumbled the last words, especially the word “love”.

Kyungsoo laughed and brought Cheddar to his arms.

“Let’s play a game. I see something brown.”

“Tree trunk?”

“False.”

“Ground?”

“Nope.”

“The bench.”

“Nope.”

“I give up. There’s nothing brown here…” Kyungsoo laughed.

“Squirrel poop. Right next to your foot.”

“So you are playing dirty.”

“Always,” Baekhyun grinned. “I wouldn’t play pranks on you…” he said, looking at him.

“I know…”

He had never seen Baekhyun truly mad. Not in the “demon” mad type of sense because, most of the time, Baekhyun looked and behaved like a normal human being.

It had been another ordinary day, without much to be expected from it. At the end of it, there was some publishing house party to which they were all invited. The only reason why Kyungsoo was going was that there would be other publishing houses there and the opportunity of another job was sparkling before his eyes.

He needed to be social and pleasant.

Pleasant and social, he repeated in his mind. He had invited Baekhyun, to go with him, but the other had refused, saying something about not liking that many people at once for quite a while. Well, that was fine. It was not like he was dependent on the other. They were not even a “thing” in the end, so there was nothing to be mad about. But, the problem was that Kyungsoo was mad about it.

So mad that he had been drinking a little too much and laughing a little too much with people he shouldn’t be doing all of that with.

“You are Do Kyungsoo, right?” a guy asked him.

Maybe he had a thing for tall and muscular guys, with the biggest hands imaginable. Or maybe it was the alcohol, he wasn’t sure.

“Yeah…that’s me,” he laughed.

“I’m Chanyeol…nice to meet you.”

“Me too…” Kyungsoo laughed, stepping closer to him.

“I noticed you from across the room.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…is it too soon to say that you are beautiful?”

“Maybe…but“- Kyungsoo said, biting his bottom lip, “I think you are very sexy yourself.”

And that’s when it happened; maybe he felt the chill, running through his body before, but the feeling was growing stronger and stronger and out of the blue, the air was filling with those grey particles, thicker and harder to breathe in.

He knew he was there, he could sense it in his being. There wasn’t any fear, not for himself, but for the others.

“Chanyeol, you should go,” Kyungsoo said but the other just laughed, touching his arm.

Kyungsoo took a couple of steps back when Chanyeol’s face started turning blue, his hands clasped around his neck.

“Fuck…” he whispered, only staring at him.

In the corner of the room, he saw Baekhyun, his eyes red and inflamed, skin pale and transparent.

“Help, someone, call help!” Kyungsoo shouted. “I think he is chocking or something…”

Chanyeol had fallen to the ground, convulsing, with the hands still tight around his neck. Kyungsoo ran towards Baekhyun, pushing the people aside.

“Stop it…what are you doing…stop it, Baek. You will kill him.”

“That’s what he deserves,” the other said between gritted teeth.

“It’s my fault, not his. Please…stop it if you care about me. Please…”

Baekhyun glanced at him, his eyes red and veins going down across his face that almost didn’t look human anymore. And then, it all stopped. When he glanced back, Chanyeol was on his feet, laughing and talking to people.

“Let’s go,” Baekhyun said, grabbing his wrist.

His eyes were back to brown, his face only pale and translucent.

“You told me you have no powers anymore.”

“I lied,” Baekhyun said.

“What did you do?”

“Turned back time a little for him. He’s fine. He can’t remember a thing. But he deserved it, for thinking those thoughts and trying to touch you.”

“You are insane,” Kyungsoo whispered. “You are fucking evil.”

“I am a demon, have you forgotten? I am evil. Being caught in this stupid existence doesn’t change who I am. And when I’ll escape this damn curse, do you think I’ll start helping people or something?”

“So you are only using me or what?” Kyungsoo asked, stepping back.

“What I feel for you…is real, Kyungsoo. That’s why I did what I did. You made me jealous and nobody had done that to me ever before.”

“Well, maybe if you had come with me to this damn party…then I wouldn’t have been looking for someone. I’m not your property. I never said that I am together with you. I never said that I love you because I don’t and I don’t suppose I ever will love something like you. You are evil and I hate that I am caught in your stupid game. You could rot in hell by me,” Kyungsoo said and started walking away.

“You don’t mean it…” Baekhyun whispered. “Kyungsoo!! Please, you don’t mean it! Kyungsoo, come back, Kyungsoo…don’t let me turn into a shadow! Kyungsoo!!”

But Kyungsoo couldn’t turn back and look at him, because he knew all of his will power would leave his body, seeing him turn invisible again. He couldn’t. Baekhyun was evil, he could not possibly feel love. Not for anyone but himself.

He woke up in the morning feeling tired; feeling like crying. There were no more particles in the air, it was all quiet, walking into the hallway.

Cheddar was waiting in the kitchen, sniffling.

“Hey, boy. Morning. Are you hungry?”

But Cheddar was staring at him with a strange look in his round eyes. Kyungsoo felt a chill right through his heart and ran towards Baekhyun’s bedroom. He opened the door, without knocking, but there was no one inside, not at first look.

“Baekhyun…?” he whispered.

Kyungsoo gulped down, feeling a knot forming.

“Baek…”

“Here…” he heard a voice from behind the closet. “I’m here…”

“Baek…?”

But what he saw were only clothes bundled up on the traces of what used to be a body. There were only the contours.

“Baek…?”

“I’m almost a fucking shadow. I suppose that at the end of the day you won’t be able to see me,” he said, laughing a little.

“Baek, you are not serious.”

“Actually…I was wrong.”

“What were you wrong about?”

“I am not turning into a ghost…I am just disappearing. You know…turning into the air. I can’t feel my body, you know?”

“No, you can’t be. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think last night that you would…”

“Die? Yeah, me neither. But you were right. I am evil and I deserve to be punished. You’ll be late for work…”

“Baek…” Kyungsoo whispered, looking at what remained of him. “I didn’t mean it, last night…I was mad and upset. I was upset because you didn’t come with me…because-because I am beginning to…to fall in love with you.”

Baekhyun laughed.

“No, you don’t. It was stupid to even pretend that you could love me. I haven’t learned anything from this, you know…? I’m still the same old me. Torturing people and acting like the monster I was meant to me.”

“Baek, you are not going to disappear, okay?”

“How…?”

Kyungsoo sighed, coming closer to him. “Maybe you can feel it like this.”

He closed his eyes and leaned forward; he breathed in and kissed him, whatever was left of Baekhyun. Everything was cold underneath his touch and Kyungsoo wrapped both arms around him, bringing him to his chest. He was so light.

“I love you…” he whispered, kissing him again. “I don’t want you to die…not like this,” he whispered, kissing him all over the face; but he was feeling tired all of a sudden, more tired with each kiss that he was giving him.

He couldn’t stop.

And little by little, Baekhyun was reappearing in his arms, turning warm and real and heavy, made out of flesh and bones and blood. He was there, next to him, real and breathing.

“Fuck…it worked,” Baekhyun whispered, taking Kyungsoo’s face in his hands. “Kyungsoo, it worked. It worked. I’m…me.”

“What…it worked…?” he whispered, burying his face at Baekhyun’s chest.

“I’m…I can feel it, my powers. I’m, it’s me. I’m not cursed anymore.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s like…it’s all prickling my skin and…I just know it, how much I’ve missed it. I’m not dead. The curse is gone. Gone. Forever.”

“So it worked…” Kyungsoo smiled.

“Yeah, it did.”

Kyungsoo sighed. He let go of Baekhyun and stood up, looking around the room. Everything was spinning with him and the air was worse; thick and filled with those particles, flying around him. He needed to puke.

“I’m me again. Damn, how good it feels.”

But Kyungsoo wasn’t feeling good, he wasn’t feeling alright. He fell down on the floor, as his feet had given up on him.

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asked. “Hey. What’s wrong?!”

He closed his eyes, to stop the spinning, but it was even worse. His body, everything was feeling so light, he could almost float. So that’s how it was, after all, how Baekhyun had been feeling. Then, he understood. He suddenly understood it all, but instead of being mad, he was calm.

“Kyungsoo…nonononononono, it can’t be happening!” Baekhyun said, holding him in his arms. “Kyungsoo, please, Kyungsoo…you idiot, you big idiot. Nononononono, don’t do this to me.”

He wished he could have said something, anything, but he couldn’t talk. He was floating, somewhere above, watching Baekhyun hold his dissipating body into his arms, cradle it at his chest. But he couldn’t feel nor sorrow nor sadness, watching himself as a spectator.

It was all over, but he wasn’t mad. Maybe if he had known it, he wouldn’t have done it; or moved into that place. But from the first time, it had seemed like a calling that he couldn’t ignore. He wasn’t sure, looking at them, whether that had been love or just an impulse. It didn’t really matter, did it, in the end, what he was feeling…

“Kyungsoo…don’t do this…why were you so stupid? Why was I so stupid to think it would end well? I am still cursed…please, don’t do this to me…please don’t, Kyungsoo…”

And Kyungsoo smiled, floating higher and higher until it all turned black around him, but a comfortable one, soft, filling him. That’s what he had always needed, that calmness and silence that was surrounding him. Soon enough, there were no thoughts, only darkness. Just darkness.

“Kyungsoo…why did you do it, I should have known, I should have known it that it would happen. Please…I want to die instead, please, please.”

Kyungsoo gave one last smile before everything was erased around him; blackness, no thoughts, no feelings. He was, but he wasn’t.

Was it really love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i had every intention, in the beginning, to make it a happy story; i really did.  
> but then this whole punishment storyline came to my mind and while i was writing this chapter i just...had this idea of sacrifice, which i think works pretty well with the whole "cursed demon" kind of thing.   
> was it out of love...? debatable.  
> could be or just that baekhyun was feeding off kyungsoo's energy all that time and kissing him just used up all of his energy that went to baekhyun who turned back to his normal self.
> 
> personally, i enjoy this ending, even though it is rather sad and unexpected.   
> i should have developed their relationship more i suppose, but at the same time, it works into the rushed decisions kind of thing. 
> 
> what do you guys think?


	5. Chapter 5

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck…” he mumbled, opening his eyes.

That hurt, in fact, his whole body seemed to be on fire and hit by damn giant hedgehog, repeatedly.

“YOU ARE ALIVE! IT WORKED, JONGDAE, IT WORKED!”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, trying to not focus on the loud sound of what seemed to be Baekhyun’s voice. Baekhyun’s annoyingly loud voice.

“What…?”

“You came back from the dead.”

“Huh…?”

“You were dead for like…2 minutes. Until I got a brilliant idea and you are not dead anymore. YOU ARE NOT DEAD!”

“Not that loud…please…” Kyungsoo whispered, shifting in the other’s arms until his feet didn’t feel like giving up on life. And that, he thought, had not been quite a good joke.

“Jongdae, your plan worked,” Baekhyun said, turning around to look at him, but Jongdae was already asleep on the floor.

“What did you do?” Kyungsoo asked.

Baekhyun shrugged, glancing around the room. “Nothing special. Just some demon shit.”

“Baek…I’m resurrected or something. I have the right to know.”

“What it matters is that I saved you, I still very much have gooey feelings for you and hope you still have those for me. Do you? Please tell me you don’t hate me because-“

“I don’t hate you…but I will if you keep talking. I have a headache,” Kyungsoo said, closing his eyes; the light was too bright and the noises too much for his ears. Being alive was hurting like hell.

“Right. Let’s put you in bed and we’ll talk later, right?”

Kyungsoo was helped to sit on Baekhyun’s bed, tucked underneath the blanket and asked for about 20 times if he needed anything else.

“Hey…work…”

“I called in and said you had a heart attack.”

“What…?!”

“Talk later, after you sleep, alright?”

Kyungsoo nodded and closed his eyes; he could ask questions later, in fact, he was feeling so tired and heavy, like all his limbs and bones were made out of lead. So he turned on the side, hugging his knees at the chest. He didn’t register when the other had climbed in bed next to him, taking the last pillow and falling into a deep sleep, just like himself.

They both woke up at sunset when the air in the room was cold from the opened window.

“Hey…” Baekhyun whispered.

“Hey…” Kyungsoo said, clearing his throat. “Where you here the whole time?”

Baekhyun nodded. He stood up, walked over to the window and closed it, lingering there for a while, staring at the street beneath them and then, at his fingers.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Okay…”

“I…am human now,” Baekhyun said and sat down next to him.

“What?”

“That was the deal. To save you. Give up immortality for your life. And I did it,” Baekhyun shrugged, a small smile blossoming on his lips.

Kyungsoo stared at him and tried to see anything different about him that might show that he was human and no longer a demon, but there was nothing. He was made like himself out of bone and flesh. Pink cheeks and pink lips wet from licking them over and over. But he looked better, he thought, better than in the last months. He touched his hand, slowly. Nothing happened, at least not bad. Baekhyun was warm and soft and Kyungsoo intertwined their fingers, placing their connected hands on his lap.

Baekhyun had given up something for him. He smiled, feeling some strange kind of pride inside his chest; it needed that much love to do something like that, he thought, and Baekhyun was in love with him. Kyungsoo smiled again, shifting closer.

He was still afraid to do anything; when thinking about it, the darkness was coming back, but it was accompanied by calmness and a sense of tranquility that he had never felt before.

“So now…”

“I am mortal. And I can sleep and eat and we can cook together and actually sleep in the same bed…if you still want to, of course,” Baekhyun smiled. “You sacrificed yourself for me so I sacrificed something for you too. We broke the punishment.”

“Did we?”

“Look, I was bored of being immortal, you know. It makes you do a lot of stupid shit. Plus, the last 300 years were crap and not worth it. I’d rather live 50 more with you…we don’t need to work. I have plenty of money. We could travel and see the world, have fun.”

“Baek…”

“You don’t have to decide right now. It was just an idea.”

“This is a lot to digest right now…”

“I know. I’m suddenly mortal,” Baekhyun laughed.

Kyungsoo went to work the next day and went ahead with the idea that he had suffered a mini heart attack; it was not that it mattered and he had been dead for 2 minutes straight. He could still barely feel his toes and tips of his fingers, so typing on a damn computer had never been harder than before.

But he was alive and the thought that Baekhyun had given something for him was making him feel warmth going through his body, stopping in his chest. There was no curse stopping him anymore from falling in love with him. And he had every reason to, Kyungsoo thought.

“Heard about…your heart attack,” Jongin said from the door frame. “If you need more free days, just ask for them, alright?”

“I’m good,” Kyungsoo said. “But thanks.”

“Hey…and sorry about everything that I said. About not wanting a relationship and shit…I don’t think I’m ready to…be like that with someone. And being with you just scared me,” Jongin said, not moving from his spot.

“It’s alright. Friends again?”

“Yeah, friends sounds good,” Jongin said and sat there for a moment longer before he mouther an excuse that he was being waited for in a meeting and left.

Kyungsoo felt different. He couldn’t explain it, not in words, but something inside of him was different. Everything seemed further away from him as if he were detached from the world. It had to do with the fact that he had been dead, but that sense of calmness hadn’t left him. In fact, he didn’t even want it to.

When he got home, Baekhyun was waiting for him, with dinner on the table and a red candle burning in the middle.

“Made this 3 times but now I think it tastes decent,” he said.

Kyungsoo smiled, walking over to where he was standing. It was all real, he told himself. He traced with a finger the contours of Baekhyun’s cheek, warm and soft and concrete, not disappearing right in front of his eyes. They were both alright and alive, next to each other. He sighed, stopping, moving his fingers to his neck.

Baekhyun trembled and Kyungsoo closed his eyes, leaning forward until their lips were almost touching. He stayed like that, counting the seconds and telling himself over and over that it was just a kiss and nothing could happen. Nothing.

So he closed the remaining distance, his heart beating in his chest, harder and harder, until it all calmed down when their lips touched. He sighed into the kiss, feeling Baekhyun’s hands on his hips, pulling him closer.

There was nothing else, just stillness and calmness, no thoughts or images in his mind; just Baekhyun’s warm skin against his own, his shallow breath brushing against his face, tasting of peppermint, the fingers gently digging into his sides; the wetness of it all, and softness of his lips, small but right to kiss.

He sighed again, taking a step back.

They didn’t say anything, looking at one another. Then, they burst into laughter, knowing that they were both thinking about the same thing.

“Hope you like shrimp,” Baekhyun said.

Jongdae was still sleeping most of the days and not even the coffee pills had worked their magic. He was thinking from time to time about it, feeling bad, guilty.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Baekhyun said one night while Cheddar was sitting on his belly, snoring. “He has to find a way out of it, you know?”

Kyungsoo sighed. It didn’t seem fair to him, seeing the other suffer. But Baekhyun was right too, what could they do?

“I have an idea…” he said a month after that discussion while cleaning the kitchen counter.

“What? Should we clean the hallway today too? You know, I can’t feel my hands…” Baekhyun mumbled, holding the mop.

“No, about Jongdae. You said that he used to be a very lazy angel. What did that mean?”

“Well, he wouldn’t help anyone or do anything. You know…he was lazy. Like now, but not cursed.”

“What if he started helping people? Starting a charity shop or a donation center or something. To do something good.”

“Kyungsoo…he can’t stay awake for more than 20 minutes at a time. And that’s the maximum.”

“We can help. Start a non-profit organization. You said it yourself you have a lot of money and-“

“Kyungsoo. He should want to do it. Not us for him. Look…I gave up immortality because that’s what I wanted and you saved me because you wanted, not because someone told you to. That should be the case for him.”

“But he…”

“He’s immortal. We are not. Jongdae has plenty of time to figure things out or be forgiven.”

Kyungsoo didn’t stir the conversation again. He knew the other was right.

Having Baekhyun eat and sleep was the most normal and weird sight ever. Because he would most often than not forget to eat or go to bed at a decent hour, making Kyungsoo babysit him around and eventually draw him a timetable.

“So you don’t forget,” he laughed.

They were in the midst of packing for a Hawaii trip when Baekhyun found Jongdae. He hadn’t suspected anything, not when all his powers were gone. But there he was, in the bathroom, the water red around his body. His eyes were closed; he was unmoving.

“Fuck…”

That’s how Kyungsoo found him, sitting on the cold tiles, rocking back and forth. He didn’t know why, but he still felt the same calmness and tranquility. He didn’t cry nor grieve for his death; it hadn’t been that bad there, he had known it for himself. No different from sleeping all day.

Kyungsoo took care of the funeral and preparations, calling the police, explaining everything. It all went well and in 1 week, the funeral was over, with only 3 people to attend. Baekhyun, Jennie and him.

“I knew there was something wrong with him,” she whispered to Kyungsoo. “How are you holding up in there?” she asked him, as they were walking out of the cemetery.

It was raining.

“Good…” he said, glancing at Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo held his hand, squeezing it. That night, Baekhyun had cried in his arms, but he could not feel the same pain as he was feeling. After all, they would be dead too at some point.

They went to Hawaii after 2 more months, when Baekhyun was feeling much better. Cheddar was left for Jennie to take care of him, and, to both of their surprise, she was more than pleased to do so.

“I think we both needed this,” Baekhyun said.

“Yeah, a vacation.”

“I love you…” he whispered, kissing his cheek.

“I love you more,” Kyungsoo smiled.

He loved him, he thought. They were meant for each other and after all that it had happened, he couldn’t let go of him. Baekhyun was part of him, it seemed like, and maybe he was just a big of a part of Baekhyun too.

He could feel it sometimes, the connection, like electricity bolts, how he knew before what the other wanted to say or what he was thinking. Kyungsoo didn’t mind it and Baekhyun had never said anything about it.

He loved him.

-the end-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last one for sure; i think i like this ending too, keeping a bit of the mystery from the beginning (is kyungsoo really alright and are they really in love with each other, or it's just the reciprocal guilt?)  
> i wanted to show that death had left a scar on kyungsoo's way of perceiving things, making him more detached from everything, in a sense, less human; baekhyun is now the more human one out of them which is quite ironic in a way  
> but i do think they love each other and that the mutual sacrifices have created a deep connection between them  
> as for jongdae's death, i suppose that for him being dead was better than being asleep most of the time; he could fight it, as kyungsoo said, but he chose not to.  
> also, the way i have depicted death is my own personal opinion of the matter, so feel free to view it as you want, whether you believe there are a heaven and hell and we still hold some awareness or that maybe we reincarnate so that jongdae didn't die in the most literal sense.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are well-loved:)


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